Jean-Louis Billon a trade minister under Ouattara and the ex-CEO of Sifca the country's largest agro-industrial conglomerate was dumped by Tidjane Thiam from his Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) for the same reason that ex-president Laurent Gbagbo got rid of trusted lieutenant Ahoua Don Mello at the Parti des peoples africains – Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI) – they both suggested alternative candidate should the leaders were banned which duly happened...

Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) leader Tidjane Thiam has agreed a three-month US$200 000 contract with Earhart Turner to promote ‘free and fair elections'...

Just three months after 25 parties formed the Coalition pour l'alternance pacifique en Côte d'Ivoire (CAP-CI) its largest member – the Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) led by Tidjane Thiam – has entered a separate alliance with the one major opposition party excluded from the coalition: the Parti des Peuples Africains – Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI) led by former president Laurent Gbagbo...

More discreetly we hear that Touré will try to counter the message from presidential contender and former Chief Executive of Credit Suisse Tidjane Thiam that Ouattara has resorted to judicial interference and ‘electoral authoritarianism' to exclude on spurious grounds the most front-running opposition candidates from October's election...

The main opposition Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) is in crisis after an Ivorian court removed its presidential candidate Tidjane Thiam from the electoral register...

Tidjane Thiam a minister under former President Henri Konan Bédié left Côte d'Ivoire for a lucrative business career after Bédié's ouster in a 1999 military coup...

Few doubt that Thiam offers the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) which ruled the country unopposed between independence in 1960 and the country's first coup in 1999 its best chance of returning to power (AC Vol 65 No 22 Divided they stand & Vol 64 No 24 Will Tidjane Thiam's 'grand retour' succeed...

It can now present an equally credible lead candidate the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) leader Tidjane Thiam back home after heading major European financial institutions such as Prudential and Credit Suisse (AC Vol 64 No 24 President Faye set to win in parliament as honeymoon endures)...

This has opened up a contest between him and the man who was overwhelmingly elected president of the party in January Tidjane Thiam (AC Vol 65 No 5 All eyes on 2025 – and the northern border)...

By contrast Tidjane Thiam chosen in January as leader of the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) is beginning to entrench himself as a figure of weight and popularity in the national political landscape particularly with the crucial Baoulé electorate of the central regions (AC Vol 64 No 24 Will Tidjane Thiam's 'grand retour' succeed...